The Cursed Lake

Chapter Four//Fairy Circle

I woke up feeling numb, maybe it was due to my tiredness.

Even after I finished crying, I couldn't get to sleep still due to the loud thunderstorms throughout the night.

I scraped my teeth along my chewed horror of lips, I had been biting them anxiously all night.

Afraid of what kind of life I would be living now. 

I fumbled down from my room after I had dressed, heading straight out the door.

I had no time for breakfast and to be honest I wanted to avoid my family. I didn't want them to see me like this.

As I walked along the wet ground, I traced the dark bags under my eyes with my finger tips, flashing back to the events of the day before.

I couldn't believe I was confirming to what my mother wanted, but I have to. 

If I want a realistically good life for myself, it wouldn't be with Peter.

Suddenly I felt two hands spin me around, revealing Peter, standing there with a smirk.

'Peter.' I said quietly and turned back around, walking away from him.

I hoped he wouldn't follow me, but he did, he jogged up to cut me off in my tracks, a puzzled expression among his face. 'Why are you being like this?" He asked.

'Because..' I trailed off, thinking of what I could possibly say next. 'Because we can't see each other anymore Peter.' 

I could see the heartbreak in his eyes. 'What so everything has changed from what two nights ago?'

I bit my lip, holding back the tears which were trying so hard to come out of my dry eyes. 'I just realised that you aren't good for me.'

'Don't tell me you've let your parents get to you?'

'Get to me? They want what is best for me and thats for me to be with someone who isn't-'

'Isn't poor? Yeah I get it.' Peter's voice cracked at the end of the sentence and with that, he moved aside, allowing me to continue on my way into the forest.

I wanted to tell him I didn't care about his status, that I didn't care about any of it, I wanted to pull his lips into mine, reassure him that I loved him. That I cared. 

But I couldn't bring myself to, I was a coward against my own parents, I couldn't disappoint my family more then I already had.

I kept my head held high, trying to hide the fact I was genuinely hurt. Genuinely afraid, he was the one person I didn't want to lose.

Ever.

What have I done?

I could feel Peter's eyes on me all the way until I was deep in the forest and he could no longer see me, I had never seen him look so hurt. Usually he wears a unreadable stern face.

My feet glided me along the forest as I was trapped within my own thoughts, it was like I couldn't face the real world. Couldn't face what I had done. To the one person in this world that loved me, not because they had to but because they genuinely loved me.

Suddenly I stopped, realising if I took a step further id fall into the murky lake. 

I recomposed myself, brushing off my gown, pondering what to do next. 

Thats when the memory came back to me, something I always used to do when I was younger that would make me feel better.

Flashback

I dropped down, pulling the small white mushroom with a brown cap out of the ground under a pine tree. 'Peter, look at this one!' I exclaimed, standing up and showing him my findings.

He smiled at me. 'Yes, that one is edible too. You should take it home with you.'

I shook my head. 'No, id rather like to share it with you.' I split the mushroom down the centre with ease, placing one half in Peter's hand. I waited till he put his in his mouth before I ate mine. It was rather delicious.

I looked over to the right, seeing a massive circle of white ones with red caps and white spots. 'Wow look at how many there are.' I pointed to the circle, Peter took my hand and lead me over to them.

'Thats a fairy circle, you musn't walk in the middle of them or step on them.'

I laughed. 'Oh don't be silly, there aren't such things.'

He shrugged 'Who knows, there could be.'

I smiled at the memory and began my hunt for some mushrooms, desperate to make myself feel something other then sorrow.

As I scattered around the forest I couldn't find any so i decided to move my search to the river bank, sometimes they grow there because of the damp climate.

Thats when I saw it, something glistening on top of a small rock. I bent down and picked it up, it reflected rainbows when it hit the sun light but stayed clear in the dark. I hadn't felt anything with the texture like this before.

It was a strange slimy yet silicon texture, in a perfect oval. Too perfect to not of been crafted that way.

'What a peculiar object.' I thought to myself out loud. 'I have never seen or felt anything like this before.'

 I decided keep it, maybe someone else in town would know and I stuffed it in the small pocket attached to my gown.

My gentle Puck, come hither.

Thou rememberest since

Once I sat upon a promontory,

And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back

Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath

That the rude sea grew civil at her song,

And certain stars shot madly from their spheres,

To hear the sea-maid's music?

- William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream